ED Miliband has sparked fears that Labour is secretly plotting to change Britain’s voting system after he declared “I am in favour of electoral reform”.
The Labour frontbencher told an audience of luvvies at Glastonbury that Britain’s political system is “broken” and needs changing.
Shadow climate secretary Ed Miliband at Glastonbury
Tories have warned for some time that Labour would scrap Britain’s historic first-past-the-post system and replace it with proportional representation (PR).
This would make Coalitions far more likely.
Speaking at an eco activist event at the music festival, Mr Miliband said: “You are completely right that our political system is broken and needs to change.
“I am in favour of electoral reform. I am in favour of a big change to our system.”
Mr Miliband’s team say he was referring to Labour’s policy to give votes to 16 year-olds.
But Tory MPs accused the shadow climate change secretary of letting the mask slip on PR.
Brandon Lewis, the former Conservative Party chairman, said: “Bizarre that when the country wants the government to be focused on the issues that affect everyday lives, like inflation and war on our continent, Labour seem focused on playing with ideological electoral reform.”
Tory MP Paul Bristow said: “It looks like Red Ed has let the cat out of the bag.
“Labour wants a PR system that allows them to do back room deals with the Lib Dems and Greens and lock the centre right out of power forever.
“Make no mistake, if Labour wins the next election, PR will put EU membership back on the table and allow for an open border policy to be implemented as Sir Keir panders to Lib Dems and leftwingers in his own party.”
Tory MP Henry Smith said: “Labour publicly play down talk of changing our voting system but occasionally we get a glimpse of their real intent, as with Miliband’s recent comments at Glastonbury.
“After all, he enthusiastically supported the alternative vote system in 2011 and just a few weeks ago Starmer let slip his plans to allow votes for foreigners and 16-17 year olds.
“With PR too they’d completely gerrymander the system to the left’s advantage.”
A spokesman for Mr Miliband said: “Ed was referring to Labour’s programme of electoral reform, for example our Take Back Control Act to give power back to communities; and extending voting rights to 16 and 17 year-olds.”
A Labour spokesman said: “We are not looking to change the electoral system.”
